Portable pump apparatus of the shoulder pack type



Oct. 27, 1953 R. w. AUSTIN 2,656,958

PORTABLE PUMP APPARATUS OF THE SHOULDER PACK TYPE Filed Feb. 18 1950INVENTOR. Z a/b /4/ 41/575)? BY SMQM JL HTTO/PNEY Patented Oct. 27, 1953PORTABLE PUMP APPARATUS OF THE SHOULDER PACK TYPE Ralph W. Austin,Weymouth, Mass., assignor to Badger Fire Extinguisher Company,Somerville, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February18, 1950, Serial No. 145,014

1 Claim.

This invention relates to portable pump apparatus of the shoulder packtype, and more particularly to a novel container for the liquid to bepumped by such apparatus;

The invention has for an object to provide a novel and improvedcontainer for embodiment in portable pump apparatus of the shoulder packtype which is light in weight, conformable to the back of the wearer,and of a non-corrodible nature. 7 I

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel container of thecharacter specified which may be collapsed into small volume when not inuse for shipping and storage purposes.

With these general objects in View and such others as may hereinafterappear, the invention consists in the container for portable pumpapparatus of the shoulder pack type hereinafter described andparticularly defined in the claim at the end of this specification.

In the drawing illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention,Fig. 1 is a plan and Fig. 2 a front elevation with a portion broken awayand shown in section of a container for portable fire extinguishingapparatus of the shoulder pack pump type.

Prior to the present invention portable fire extinguishing apparatus ofthe shoulder pack pump type has been extensively used for fightingforest fires and for fighting other fires in more or less remote placeswhere a supply of water under pressure is not available. This type ofapparatus as heretofore constructed has included a metal container ortank to which a hand pump is operatively conected. The tank is of a sizesuificient to hold a substantial quantity of a fire extinguishing liquidsuch as water, and in practice these tanks have usually been of afivegallon capacity. The metal container when filled with five gallonsor other quantity of Water or other extinguishing liquid represents arelatively heavy load for the operator and the metal of the containerwhen strapped to the back by suitable straps extending over the shoulderbecomes uncomfortable for the wearer after the apparatus has been wornfor any substantial length of time.

The present invention contemplates a construction of containerparticularly useful in fire extinguishing apparatus of the shoulder packpump type which may be worn by the operator with maximum comfort, iseconomical to manufacture, corrosion resisting, relatively light inweight, and which may be collapsed into relatively small volume forshipping and storage purposes.

Referring now to the drawing, I0 represents the present container forthe fire extinguishing liquid of portable extinguishing apparatus of theshoulder pack pump type. The container I0 in accordance with the presentinvention is made of a flexible resilient waterproof material of a sizecomparable to the size of the metal containers heretofore embodied infire extinguishing apparatus of this type. For most purposes thecontainer II! will be of a size sufficient to hold five. gallons of theextinguishing liquid such as water. While various materials may beutilized in the production of the container, I prefer to mold thecontainer of rubber or rubber composition in the general shapeillustrated in the drawing in which the top and bottom of the containerare fiat and the side walls corrugated or plaited for a purpose to bedescribed. As herein shown, the corners [2 of the container arepreferably rounded and the side wall l4 concave to conform generally tothe back of the wearer. The side wall l4 may and preferably will beprovided with metal belt clips l6 molded in or vulcanized to the sidewall [4 for the reception of the usual shoulder straps by which thecontainer and its load of extinguishing liquid may be supported on theback of the wearer with the straps extended over the shoulders inaccordance with the usual practice when shoulder pack pump types ofextin guishers are worn.

The upper wall ill of the container may and preferably will be providedwith a filling opening for the introduction of the extinguishing liquidinto the container, and as herein shown a metal nipple 29 is molded orvulcanized into the upper wall I8 and the nipple is provided with aremovable cap or closure 22 screwed onto the threaded nipple. The cap isprovided with a vent opening 24 for permitting the introduction of airwhen the extinguisher is being used. The lower portion of the containeris provided with a metal outlet nipple 26 herein shown as vulcanized ormolded in the lower portion of one corner of the container, as shown.The upper wall l8 may also be provided with a handle 28 to enable thecontainer tobe conveniently transported prior to its application to theback of the wearer, and preferably the legs 30 of the handle may bemolded o-r vulcanized in the rubber of the upper wall to be securelyattached thereto.

The usual hand pump, not shown, has the inlet thereof connected by aflexible hose to the discharge nipple 26 of the container, and the usualoutlet hose from the pump enables the operator to direct the stream ofextinguishing liquid at the fire. In order to enable the pump to beconveniently carried, the handle 28 of the container is provided withsuitable metal clips 32 for the reception of the pump so that when thecomplete apparatus is assembled, the pump may be conveniently carried ontop of the handle.

The side walls of the body portion of the con-- tainer arepreferably-corrugated or'plaited horizontally, as indicated at 34, sothat an empty container may be readily collapsed into a relax-w tivelysmall volume to enable it tdheconveniently packed, shipped or stored,and'in practice'the upper and lower walls of the container may beprovided with reenforcing :metai; ofi

which is shown at 36 molded -into-theirubbeircomi r stituting suchwalls.

While I prefer to produce the present container of rubber, it will beunderstood that other suitable flexible waterproof materials may beused; such. as fabrics impregnated with rubber or with suitablesynthetic resinous materials: now 7 on the market,

use the; present conformable container: may; be worn with. much morecomfort. than theprior metalcontainers; and in addition: the collapsibleconstruction or the container enables thesamec to be; stored;v shippedand. packed arelativelysmall volume.-

-While: the, presentv construction of shoulder packipump unit isparticularly useful as a: fire extinguisher of this type, neverthelessit, will; 'be observed that. the DOHr-COI'TOdiblQ nature; ofttnecontainer lends:itself partimilarly to the use ot the pumpunitfor.spraying and other purposes,

whene liquid insecticides-or thelikezoften present 3 serious; problems:because: of? their corrosive; nae turei,

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

A container for a portable pump apparatus of the shoulder pack typecomprising a resiliently flexible and hollow body portion havingsubstantially rectangular top, bottom and four side walls, the andbottom walls being: provided with metal reenforcing: plates to' praservethe substantially rectangular shape of the container when it is filledwith liquid, the four intervening side walls beingreadily flexible andprovided with :auzseries or transversely extended corrugations formedthereacross generally parallel to said top and bottom walls-wand withtheir crest portions ingi outwardly at least as far as the boundai iesoftsaict top-and bottom walls whereby said crests, engage thewearersback and support said container therefrom, the flexible side walladaptedrfla: contact the wearers back being concave for flexibleconformity to the wearers back, the concave portion. thereof being, ofxawidthlequaltmthe width of art-average man sashoulders back. contacting.flexible "sidewallprovided with shoulder-strap clips spaced. thereonsuchcthat. shoulder. straps fastened thereto will. restzcomfortably.oniand overl the shoulders of the-wearer. when the. liquidsfilledcontainer worn.

RALPH- W..IAUSHIIN.,

"References: Cited in the fll'e ot thiis patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber Name: Date;

660,014: Hogan .6et.-.16i1900; 1,003,855 Adams: Sept 19;} 1 151!-'1,02l;601 Holitzkii Max:261;- 1912 Lil-L458 nJune .18;;19291 72,187,868vSchweitzer JaneZEhdQO':

